Original subtitles

- Last season, America's top bladesmiths,

martial artists, and knife experts stepped up

to the grueling new competition

that put their blade-wielding skills to the ultimate test.

- Tonight seven "Forged in Fire" all-stars,

with bigger and badder blades, are ready to take their shot.

But this time, we've turned up the heat.

New challenges. - Whoa!

- Looks like medical's stepping in.

Total carnage!

Who will be skilled enough...

and which blades are sharp enough

to earn the $20,000 grand prize

and the title of "Knife or Death" champion?

- "Forged in Fire" was a lot about how to make a blade.

"Knife or Death," that really shows

what my blades are made of.

- The main reason that I'm here on "Knife or Death"

is so I could put one of my own weapons

fully through its paces.

- Blade wielders and bladesmiths,

you represent seven of the top "Forged in Fire" all-stars.

Complete two punishing courses,

and the winner earns a cash prize

and a spot in the grand-champion showdown

at the end of the season.

You've all forged your own custom blades.

Now it's time to see if they'll be strong enough

to stand up to Knife Fight.

The Knife Fight course is a true test of speed and power.

First up, Decapitator.

Slice completely through each target

at each station with one swing.

Failure to complete the station is a penalty.

Next up, Slasher.

Once the sliding target is released,

you must cut completely through it

before it returns to its original position.

Failure to do so, you incur a penalty.

Next up, Timber.

Use the proper technique to chop down the 2X4

and land it directly in the target area.

After that, Ice Pick.

You must cut completely through

a three-foot block of ice,

slicing through the plastic pipe

and releasing the red liquid in the center.

Once completed, it's on to Life Line.

A sudden-death obstacle, you must fully slice

through three hanging objects with one swing each.

Fail to slice through the thickest part,

your run time ends.

Next up, another sudden-death elimination, Killshot.

You must fully slice through three sections

of ratchet straps with one swing each.

Failure to do so, and you're not allowed

to go any further in the course.

Your time ends when you plunge your blade

through the tree stump.

- This season's course

is a whole lot harder than last season.

It's going to really test the blade,

so it'll be interesting.

- The two that make it the farthest the fastest

will move on to our second,

even more grueling challenge course, Dead Run.

Joining me once again, U. S. Army veteran

and Special Forces Green Beret Tu Lam.

- Many of you know our blade specialist

and two-time "Forged in Fire" champion Travis Wuertz.

He finds anything wrong with your blade,

you could be eliminated.

- Good luck, gentlemen.

Go get your blades ready.

- Getting a bunch of "Forged in Fire" guys,

putting us all together and doing this,

I think it's going to be fun.

And I think I got what it takes,

but we're going to find out, aren't we?

- Hi, my name is Devin Cornell.

I'm 48 years old. I'm from north Idaho.

Oh, I started blacksmithing around 1993.

I'm excited to be on "Knife or Death."

I've done a lot of medieval heavy-armored combat,

but I've never been in a cutting competition before

in my life.

- So what do you got there?

- I got a two-handed falcata.

- How long is this sucker? - About 23.

- Why that much handle? - I wanted power.

I wanted an extreme, aggressive cutting edge.

- I think you have those things.

I mean, it's definitely a unique weapon.

It's not something I'm accustomed to swinging.

All right.

My concern is that you have a lot of brute-force power

and can push through an object, but it's something that's hard

to develop a lot of blade speed.

Congratulations, your knife makes the cut.

- Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Here he comes.

- Devin Cornell, 47-year-old corrections officer.

At the end of the day, you don't want to cross

a corrections officer with that big, bad blade in his hand.

- The falcata was a blade that originated out of Greece.

They used these blades to fight against the Romans.

They split the Roman shields,

so this blade is truly a chopper.

My only concern is, is he able to handle that long handle?

- There you go, paying homage to the blade.

Look at the first obstacle, Decapitator.

They must cut through all the items on each station

in one swing, or it's a penalty.

And here it is.

Backhanded, whack! - !

- Boom, he got it.

- Oh, he missed it.

That was my main concern here.

That the length of that handle

would have that blade so low. It's a heavy blade.

- Let's see how the blade performs at Slasher.

Competitors must cut each object in half

before it makes it one full trip on the track.

All the way down, all the way back.

- Drive that body, drive in the cans.

- There you go, there you go. - Yeah, look at that power!

- No hip movement there, one slice.

- Wow. - His first two down.

Nice. - Nice.

I love how he works it. - Okay, he absolutely

demolished Slasher.

- We've seen the advantages of that handle on Slasher,

but how's it going to do on Timber?

This is a more precision type of cut.

It's all about creating that cavity,

let gravity take over, and let that thing

fall in the path of the cut.

- Hopefully, he does not go up there like a whirling dervish

and just try to smash through the thing.

And that's the tact he takes. - He's hitting with force.

I'm telling you, you don't want to rely on chance.

- No, no, no, oh! That was close.

He relied on chance, it didn't work.

- Too much power. - Stepping up to Ice Pick.

The competitor must go all the way through

the 300-pound block of ice.

- With this blade here, and that handle,

I mean, this could do some damage.

Two strikes! - Hoorah.

- Moving on to Life Line.

One shot, all the way through the object.

- You can see from the first season,

a lot of competitors had a hard time with this.

- Whack! - There's no doubt, Bill.

This thing has some power. - That's for damn sure.

He's going through that stuff quite quickly.

He destroyed it.

Didn't take him very long at all to complete Life Line.

Now he's on to Killshot.

You must fully slice through three sections

of ratchet straps with one shot.

One wrong swing, and that blade won't cut.

This is a formidable obstacle right here.

Oh, he misses! That's disappointing.

And there you go--the four-inch strap took him down.

- He should have pulled that blade back,

and allowed the lead edge to cut through the ratchet.

- Well, Devin, here, at Killshot,

your run on Knife Fight ends.

- This is what I came here to do, was chop it.

Just chop some stuff, and I chopped it.

- Well, you did it. - I chopped!

Oh, man, except for that.

Yeah, with my time, and hopefully,

with a little bit of luck on my side,

maybe I can still compete.

- My name is Page Steinhardt. I'm 51.

I'm a jeweler from Syracuse, New York.

I've been a bladesmith since I was 14.

I was supposed to be dead 32 years ago.

Doctors gave me six months to live.

Here I am, well,

still kicking and breathing, proving them wrong.

So the sword I brought today is a falchion.

It's about 20 inches long. It was a 14-hour build.

I haven't really had a chance to test it at all.

But hopefully she'll do what she needs to do.

- Right, this reminds me a little bit more

of a sabre, with the sweeping curve.

- I figured it wasn't quite long enough to be a sabre,

and I wanted to do a cruciform guard,

so that I'd have the opportunity

to use the back edge without interference.

- Oh, so you do have a sharpened back edge here?

- Somewhat, yes. - Okay.

- I came here to have fun and wreck some stuff.

- Awesome, well, I'm going to wreck

a little bit of sugarcane with it.

The light and fast and speed of this blade

should not mislead somebody

to think that it's not a powerful blade.

- I'm eager to try it. - I imagine you are.

So congratulations. Your blade makes the cut.

- Thank you, sir.

It's going to be a tough course.

It's going to be a challenge.

- Page is up at bat.

He's coming in with a falchion sword.

Just the geometry of this blade--

this thing is made to slash there, Bill.

I mean, look at the contour on the lead edge.

- Here he goes at Decapitator. Let's see how he takes it.

- Nice. - Good job.

We got one penalty right there.

Okay, didn't get them all. That's a penalty.

- He needs to slow down and compose himself here.

He went through it way too fast.

Didn't really look at what he was doing.

- Page steps up to Slasher. Here we go.

- Nice. - Downward strike.

Not necessarily what I'd be doing.

- Now he's chasing it. - Good job.

Right through the tube. - But look at his footwork.

He's kind of sloppy, Bill.

He needs to stop before he hurts himself.

He's chasing the target.

He needs to stay lead of his target.

- Last obstacle on Slasher. Can he do it?

Yes, he can. He's on.

Three for three on Slasher. Moving on to Timber.

- He needs to regroup and understand that

Timber is not just about power. It's about precision.

- Page is off. Page versus the 2X4.

And it doesn't look like he's being strategical.

- He's going way too hard.

He's going to knock that thing off the path.

Way too hard.

- He could put it-- nope, he did not.

Another failed attempt at Timber.

Well, if there's anything in his future

that requires power, it's Ice Pick.

Look at what he's doing here. Backside of the blade.

He needs to move. - That's a lot of power.

- There he goes.

- Look at his hips and how he expands those hips.

It's just like a baseball player.

You got to push through it.

He's almost stopping short. You can kind of see it.

- Oh, now he's chipping away, losing a lot of time.

He is struggling here. He's gassed.

- I'm a little concerned. - Chipping away.

- He needs to hit this thing with power.

- Page is spending about a week on it.

He is gasping for air.

That's not good.

- It goes to show you how

physically demanding this course is.

Does he have what it takes to continue to drive on?

- We're going to have to have a medic close.

- I've never seen it before-- - This guy is gassed.

- But we had a competitor give up on Ice Pick.

- He's hunched over. He's out of gas.

- Will Page DQ, pull out, or will he go on?

Looks like medical's gone in.

- I'm a little concerned.

It looks like he wants to continue.

- A-okay, that's a competitor right there.

- There you go. - Wow, look at that power!

- I tell you what, he almost drove through

right into the ground.

He is stumbling around here. He is absolutely gassed.

Okay, he is struggling here.

- Now, it concerns me, hitting these ratchet straps.

- Oh, yeah, there's no question.

He needs to develop a lot of power right here.

He needs all the force that he can get.

He's going to have to go two hands with it, for sure.

Here he goes, four-inch strap--through.

- Drive through it. - Double, two, okay.

One more strike. Roll through now.

- Nice! - Oh, beautiful job.

- Way to gut it through. - Page makes it,

fighting his way through the ratchet straps,

completing Knife Fight.

- Man, did he prove us wrong.

- I'll tell you what, that is some determination right there,

and that is one exhausted competitor.

- I came, I wrecked some stuff, my blade didn't break.

I'm happy.

I'm in pain, but I'm happy.

Pain goes away.

- I'm Dave Roeder-- 38 years old.

I've been making knives for almost 22 years now.

Oh, I think winning this

would be really cool to do for my kids.

You know, this is for them.

The blade that I brought with me today

is a 15-inch camp knife.

- That's a knife. What's the blade steel in this?

- Uh, leaf spring. - Leaf spring.

- Yep. - Actual leaf spring

or 5160 stock? - Yes. No, actual leaf spring.

- What's this handle material?

It almost looks like a pressed board of sorts.

- No, that's actually stabilized horse manure.

- So you're saying that is horse?

- That's right, it is horse.

- All right. - It's unique.

And it's definitely something that's distinctive.

- Your blade looks great. It has a nice feel to it.

And I'm going to take a few whacks at this sugarcane.

It's nice to just make sure that the only thing

that this is going to hurt is the course.

It's sharp, and it will cut.

I don't know if I want to wash my hands after handling it.

Congratulations. Your knife makes the cut.

- Well, thank you, sir. - Good luck.

- It's not about making the knife

as much as it is being able to use the knife.

This is a test of myself.

- Dave Roeder, "Forged in Fire" season three champion.

- He's got 14 inches of cutting power.

He should be able to decelerate

and accelerate that blade with one hand.

- Okay, stepping up to Decapitator.

Nice. Beautiful second cut.

Oh, beautiful third cut. - Nice.

That was spectacular. - You see?

He took his time and thought about it.

- Okay, he's stepping up to Slasher.

All upper body right there. But beautiful strikes.

- Right. Beautiful, powerful strikes.

But he's not really generating the power from his legs.

- But it's not needed right now.

He's already through.

- See how he-- he's chasing the box.

He needs to meet that force.

- Now he's lodged in--oh. Dislodged the blade.

He's only got a matter of seconds

before it returns on its track.

He did not get it in time. He got one 30-second penalty.

He's moving up to Timber. It's just like felling a tree.

- Let's talk about technique here.

He needs to create a wedge on the underneath of this 2X4.

- And he was starting to do that,

but it looks like he's rushing.

- Yeah, it was just brute strength.

Oh! - Oh, he missed.

30-second penalty at Timber.

- This thing is not about power.

This thing's about precision. - Okay, next up, Ice Pick.

Here we go.

- I like how he's attacking the corners.

- Beautiful technique, not much power.

- He's moving around. - Whittling away.

- Not staying in one spot.

- Dave Roeder completes Ice Pick.

Moving on to Life Line.

One shot all the way through the object.

Oh, he's through!

Okay, beautiful slice right through the chicken.

- Nice cut, great angle. Nice.

- Right through the fish. - You see that follow-through?

- Beautiful follow-through. And right through the ribs!

- Wow! Did you see how he changed his angle?

He went from angle one, and then he changed his angle

from the 3 o'clock to the 9

because he didn't want to hit those ribs.

- Now he's on to Killshot.

Whack!

- Look at the power. - Beautiful.

That is technique.

- Oh, that was close!

- He's running on the course! A big no-no.

- He's not allowed to do that. That is a 30-second penalty.

Dave Roeder destroys Knife Fight.

- How long have you been swinging blades like this?

- Well, today would be my first day.

- You and your blade made a great run.

It really held up well.

We don't know if your time is fast enough

to put you outside in Dead Run, but we can hope.

- Find out. Thank you, sir.

This is course is, by far,

ten times worse than I was expecting.

But I've completed Knife Fight.

I'm ready to go for round two, Dead Run.

- I'm Drew Goodson, I'm 19 years old,

and I live in Ruston, Louisiana.

One of the greatest accomplishments of my life

is winning "Forged and Fire",

and now I'm among these champions.

I get to cut stuff with my heroes.

Like...God.

- So what do you got there? - A two-handed cleaver.

- So how long is this blade? - Overall, it's 20.

- This is a cute little guy. - I know.

- Things don't have to be massive and heavy

to be great cutters. - Exactly.

- Well, I'm going to take a few swings with this blade

because it looks like it's going to be fun.

- Oh, yeah.

- As nice a job you did on this 12-inch blade,

I kind of wish you just had just a little bit more.

- Yeah. - Congratulations.

You knife makes the cut. - Thank you.

- Good luck.

- Being a "Forged in Fire" champ

and a "Knife or Death" champ and beating some of my heroes?

That's, like--that's "totch-nop" stuff right there.

- Drew "The Kid" Goodson steps up to Knife Fight.

- This is a modified cleaver.

- Comparatively, it's small in stature, but so is he.

First up, Decapitator. And here it is.

Oh, one penalty.

- He rushed it, and then he moved on.

- Well done on the second.

Oh, another penalty.

Two for three penalty-wise on Decapitator.

- Let's see how this small little cleaver

is going to do on Slasher.

Good technique.

Reverse strike. Losing power, but he got it.

There he is on the tube.

- Legs are kind of sloppy. He's not really planting.

He's kind of following.

He needs to plant to generate power.

- But he's on through. - Look at his footwork.

He's not really planting. He's slipping around there.

- You got to cut completely through the target

before it hits the other side.

He's sloppy, but he made quick work of Slasher.

On to Timber.

He needs to slow down that strike.

both: Oh! - That was close.

Another penalty for missing the target.

Moves on to Ice Pick.

- Well, he has great footing here.

- The competitor must go all the way through.

Beautiful! - This kid might be

19 years old, but he packs a mean punch.

- There's no doubt about that.

Right through Ice Pick. On to Life Line.

Remember, one slice through, or you're going home.

But does the blade have the sharpness

after what he just put it through?

Beautiful, right through.

- I love how he's doubling up on these hits.

It's more power generated. - Beautiful follow-through.

Look at that.

Right through the rack of ribs. - Wow.

- Okay, he destroyed Life Line.

Remember, sudden-death obstacle.

Let's see if he can make it through Killshot.

- And this is the perfect blade--

Oh, wow. - Kid did so well prior.

- I think he did more of an impact type of hit

versus a slashing hit.

- Gosh.

- I'm Peter Burt.

So, when I went on "Forged in Fire,"

my wife and daughter and I bought this

tiny little house in Hawaii.

If I win on "Knife or Death," that $20,000

would go a long ways towards buying off that house.

- So what you got there, Peter?

- A variation on a Chinese dadao.

- You're not messing around here.

This is the first time I've seen a Damascus blade

in this competition.

Just the process of combining two different steels.

Beautiful job.

This is freaking awesome, Peter.

- Thank you. I'm excited to see what it does.

- It does have a different feel in the left.

- Yep. - It's not bad.

It's fun to swing.

Congratulations. Your knife makes the cut.

- Great. Thank you so much, Travis.

I feel confident in the sword. Not as confident in myself.

- Next up to Knife Fight, Peter Burt.

- Unlike the old, traditional Chinese dadao

was more like a cleaver, this thing has a fine point.

He's going to have to cut these objects horizontal.

One clean swoop. Wow.

- Ah, got a penalty. Only exposed fruit counts.

- He extended that handle,

and he didn't have the cutting surface he needed.

- Whack! - Scary.

- Okay, he moves on to Slasher. - He's going to be able

to swing this thing like a baseball bat.

Impact swing. Wow, look at that power.

- Here we go.

- This blade is just devastating.

Look at where he's holding that handle.

- Very few strikes to complete this course.

He just absolutely destroyed the box.

Moves on to Timber.

- Too much power. Way too much power.

This is not about power here. It's about finesse.

- He incurred a 30-second penalty.

Okay, let's guess

how many strikes it takes him to get through Ice Pick,

because I don't think it's going to take too many.

- But look how he extends his handle.

Watch where his hands are. - One, two, three strikes,

and you're out. Good job.

- He's using the handle and the blade.

- It's a whip. That was beautiful.

Absolutely destroyed that.

Moves on to Life Line.

Whack! No issue whatsoever.

Not--oh, my God.

- Look at him extend his grip. - Beautiful

- He's going towards the end of that handle,

and it's giving him that power he needs.

Man, Peter has destroyed everything with this blade.

- I am expecting a clean run here.

Whack!

Okay, look at that. Oh, my gosh!

That was very unexpected.

- His lead hand was leading, so the blade was to the rear,

and as he struck, it bounced back.

- My name is Jay Replogle.

I was the "Forged in Fire" champ.

The German zweihander.

I believe it's the biggest sword

that's ever been made on the show.

The blade I have with me today

is 28 inches long, and it has Persian,

Japanese, Chinese influences,

so I just called it the Dragon.

It's actually forged from a leftover

that I had for the zweihander

from my "Forged in Fire" episode.

- Okay, so this is the same steel from you--

- Zweihander. - Okay.

Beautiful job doing this nice little peak.

What do you call this feature here?

- They call that a yelman. - That curved edge--

it brings the timing in the blade

of where you're attacking something.

- I wanted to build the best blade I could,

so I took what I liked from each one

and then combined it together to make one super blade.

- After seeing this, I kind of would like

to see your zweihander. - Oh, yeah.

- I look forward to seeing what you can do with this.

A beautiful piece. Congratulations.

This definitely makes the cut. - All right, thank you.

- Jay stepping up to Decapitator

with that 22-inch blade-- let's see what he's got.

- He's not really experienced in this world,

and he's going with a very large blade.

22 inches of cutting edge here.

- Okay, here he goes.

- Look at the cutting edge on this thing.

Wrong angle-- he needs to slow down.

See how he's coming up at the angle

instead of staying horizontal.

- Three penalties on Decapitator.

Okay, he's stepping up to Slasher.

Let's see what he's got.

Okay, he did a good job. - A lot of cutting power there.

Look at his power swings.

- Very good job on Slasher.

Boy, he's taking everything out.

Okay, see that blade bend? - Yep.

- Okay, great job there.

- He took his frustrations out on Slasher.

He's stepping up to Timber.

Here we go again, another competitor

absolutely trying to destroy it.

Placing that 2X4 right in between the barrier

was not on his mind.

- No, he did not use any strategy.

- Let's see what he's got here. Downward strike.

- Nice! - And I tell you what,

three strikes, and he's off. - Absolutely.

That was very smart. Before he crossed the line,

he went back to make sure that the liquid was exposed.

Right now he's staring at at least four penalties.

Jay has got to put it together.

Moves on to Life Line, sudden-death obstacle.

Beautiful cut. - Wow.

- Okay, good strategy there, beautiful.

- Nice.

- Moving around to the backbone first.

Steps up to the ribs.

Beautiful cut. - Wow.

- Life Line, no issue whatsoever. Moving on.

With the wrong technique,

Killshot will take him out of this competition.

- Not about chopping here, not about impacting.

It's about slashing.

Nice. - Very nice.

All right, here we go. - Ooh.

Nice. - Beautiful job.

Jay makes it on, right through Knife Fight.

- After Timber, he was doing pretty well,

so it was great to see him change pace

and switch to what actually worked.

- I'm so happy to be seeing you here

at the stump at the end of Knife Fight, Jay.

- Me too.

- This edge is just about as beautiful as it was before,

and you did a phenomenal job destroying Knife Fight with it.

We'll see you when the times come in.

- Thank you.

- I was worried I was going to, you know,

pass out, but... I'm--I'm alive, I'm doing good.

I made it.

- My name is Keith Hill.

I've been forging for about seven years now.

You can create something out of just

a blank piece of metal,

and it has a soul when you're done with it.

- So what do you got there?

- A hybrid between a kukri and a machete.

- May I see it? - Absolutely.

- Awesome.

Do you do your own leatherwork?

- Yes, sir. - Nice job.

- Thank you.

The strengths in this blade are just...

the spine is nice and thick.

The blade itself is nice and deep.

And it has a nice convex edge to it.

- Am I seeing a hamon there or a temper line?

- No, it's actually, like, rounded.

Made it a little bit thinner down here,

a little thicker towards the edge,

so it'll be a little more durable.

- Let's take some swings and make sure

that it's only a danger to the course

and not to any individuals.

- Sounds good to me. - All right.

Your blade performs well. It's very sharp.

It has a lot of power.

I look forward to seeing what you can do with it.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

- Your knife makes the cut. - Thank you.

- Here we go--Keith Hill stepping up to Knife Fight.

Well, he was SWAT team for 20 years.

He is old-school cool.

- Wow, look at the size of that machete, Bill.

22 inches of cutting edge.

- One of the issues that he said that he may have

in this competition is taking his time and being patient.

But I can tell you what-- he looks antsy.

He is ready to rock.

First up, Decapitator.

Well done on the first. Second one, no problem.

Penalty on the third one.

- You see his angle-- it started shifting back up.

All right, so moving on to Slasher.

Oh, that's a blade. - One shot, and he's through.

- Wow. - No doubt!

First two objects, boom, gone. Moves on to the box.

Look at that. - Look at that power!

- He took a fall there. - Wow.

- Footwork.

- Nice. - Oh, beautiful.

I tell you what, that was record time.

He's moving up to Timber.

- That's a lot of hard chops. - He's got a strategy going.

- He--he is using the right technique.

Notice how he started slowing down his chops.

Now look at those. - Beautiful.

Beautiful job! - Yes!

- Way to go.

- That is how you let gravity take over.

- Absolute perfection. - And he did it so fast.

First competitor we've seen do that.

Okay, let's see if he can keep that momentum going

as he steps up to Ice Pick.

All right, full power it is. Boom, done.

- I mean, now, it's all about angles and speed,

and he has it.

- Remember, one slice through, or you're going home.

Beautiful. - Nice.

- Fish, one slice. - Look at his body mechanics.

- Baby back ribs, done. - Nice.

Well done. Beautiful job by Keith Hill.

Let's see how he attacks Killshot.

- It's all about angles. - There he goes.

First one, no issue.

Whack!

Wow, look at that power!

- Keith Hill destroys Knife Fight.

- But did you see how methodical he was about it?

How he was able to think things through?

He was able to change gears real quick.

- Look at the smile. Look at the smirk on his face.

Congratulations, gentleman-- the four of you

have successfully completed Knife Fight.

But only two will move on to Dead Run.

With time penalties added,

it comes down to who did it the fastest.

Page, it was quite the struggle.

Unfortunately, you had the slowest time.

It's time to take your blade and go.

- I came here. I did the thing.

Life is good. Kick ass and party.

- Keith, with a time of 1:31...

congratulations.

You will be moving on to Dead Run.

Great job.

It's down to Jay and Dave.

The second-fastest time, with time penalties added,

was 3:05. - Ooh.

- That time belongs to...

Both of you. - Holy crap.

- That's right, it's a tie.

But only one of you can move on to Dead Run.

It comes down to whoever had the fewest penalties.

Jay, you had four penalties.

Dave...

You had three penalties. - .

- Congratulations, you will be moving on to Dead Run.

Jay, that was the closest second-place finish

we have ever had on "Knife or Death."

But it's time to take your blade and go.

Thank you, sir.

- As the "Forged in Fire" champ,

I've never taken the walk of shame before.

You know, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

- Congrats, Keith and Dave. Outside, Dead Run awaits.

While Knife Fight was the ultimate test of blades,

Dead Run is the ultimate test of speed, timing,

accuracy, and precision.

The course is bigger, longer,

and twice the difficulty of last season.

First up, Gauntlet.

From inside the circular platform,

you must cut each of the rotating targets in half.

Ball Buster.

Slice nine rolling balls in half

before they hit the floor.

Extinguisher.

Cut the rope, release the bottle.

Cut the bottle on the downswing

to extinguish the flame.

Free Fall.

You cut each piece of fruit as it drops.

Fire and Ice.

Cut completely through

the 400-pound block of ice to trigger the flame.

Next, Crash Landing.

Cut completely through the flying targets

as they zip past you.

After that, destroy the crate to release the content.

And finally, Fire Storm.

Cut two ropes to release the platform,

ascend the stairs, and stop the clock with one final chop.

Remember, in Dead Run, the clock never stops.

Here we go, Dave Roeder.

A man with no blade-wielding experience

takes on Dead Run.

- Dead Run's definitely a beast.

The tank ain't empty yet, so we're going to go ahead

and beat the crap out of it.

- First up, the Gauntlet.

From inside the circular platform,

he must cut each of the rotating targets in half.

And here we go. - Nice, already.

- Nice slice.

- Oh, look at that hand-and-eye coordination.

- Two penalties.

Now he steps up to Ball Buster.

Slice nine balls in half before they hit the floor.

Missed the first.

Missed the second.

Missed the third.

Okay, missed the fourth.

- That's the fifth penalty.

He just acquired his sixth penalty.

- He has missed most all of those,

but he's changing techniques.

Red ball--got it. Good job.

He's accrued six penalties.

- I like how he changed his technique towards the end.

- Dave Roeder steps up to Extinguisher.

- The strategy behind Extinguisher

is identifying the perfect sweet spot

on the downward swing and hit it so the water

can splash directly onto the flame.

- There he goes.

- Uh-oh. - That's a penalty, Bill.

- Okay, he cut the bottle way too low,

didn't project enough water out.

The flame did not extinguish.

There's another one. He did it again.

Same exact technique.

The flame was not extinguished.

Another one. One more penalty.

0 for 4.

Every one of those were a penalty.

- Hopefully his run is fast enough

to beat these penalties.

- Now he goes to Free Fall.

- I see him doing very well. This blade's easy to wield.

- He got a little piece of it.

Got that one.

There's a miss.

Got that one.

He misses!

- Nice!

- Beautiful.

How about the backstroke, though?

I'm not thinking that's the best way to do that.

He misses.

He's through Free Fall, on to Fire and Ice.

Twice the size of the ice inside--

competitor must chop a 400-pound ice block in half.

- It's all upper body right now.

He needs to drop that base.

- Whoa, he's through. Off to Crash Landing.

This is the ultimate test of timing.

Two more, and he's completed Dead Run.

- One for one.

And the bag, two for two.

Third one.

Four.

Oh, miss.

Now he's got to get through the box.

The shortness of the blade may be an issue here.

- He needs to bust out the formation of that blade.

Bust out the structure of it.

- He released the contents, moving on.

Here he goes--Fire Storm.

Drop the stairs.

- Wow. - One more cut.

- Boom, he's done!

I don't know what's going to happen.

He started off strong, and it only went downhill from there.

So here we go.

Dave had...

16 penalties.

Wow. - Wow.

I don't think I ever seen

that many penalties on this course.

- I know I haven't.

- Keith Hill is up.

- I absolutely have enough gas left in reserve

to get through the next course.

- But can he defeat Dave Roeder?

Because, in reality, that knife was the .

- Bill, you are referring to the horse-manure handle

that that knife is made out of.

- Absolutely.

First up, Gauntlet.

Okay, he's got a little bit more reach with that.

Jeez. - Look at him.

- Boom! - Nice.

- Whack. He's destroying these things.

Wow. When he picks one out

and it's in his sights, it's over with.

It's so confusing. He gets hit by them.

He's cut most all of those.

Frustration is setting in. - Oh, that hit him.

- He got blasted by one. He fires back.

He got all of them. On to Ball Buster.

Slice nine balls in half before they hit the floor.

- No, he missed it. - Missed again.

Missed. 0 for 3.

- He needs to try a new technique.

This is not working for him. - No, it's not.

0 for 5.

Okay, got one right there. - He got that one.

- Oh, he got one, he got two. - There we go.

- Now he's on track. - That's what I'm looking at.

- There you go. He's on track.

The red ball, he got it. He sliced a bit off.

He's got five penalties up to now.

Can he dominate Extinguisher, where Dave did not?

- As long as you find that perfect sweet position.

- The flame was not extinguished.

No, he missed it again. 0 for 2.

Okay, he's got to get the right trajectory for the water here.

Missed the third.

This is not turning out to be a very good run.

0 for 4. - Wow.

- He better step it up.

On to Free Fall.

He got that one.

Uh-oh, he misses. There's a penalty.

- Look at the position of that blade.

- Okay, 50%. Nice.

Oh, another penalty.

- Got it.

Missed it.

- There you go. - Below that blade.

- Oh, nice, he got that one.

Okay, he's not doing too bad here, making it up.

- Nice. - Yeah, there you go.

Now he's at three penalties on Free Fall.

Fire and Ice.

He better make up some time here.

There he goes. Moving on, Crash Landing.

Okay, remember, competitors must cut each object in half.

Here he goes, first obstacle. - Nice.

- Nice, cut it right in half. Second one.

Right in half.

Two for two. - Needs to move.

- Good job.

Oh, 4 for 4, doing well. - Nice.

- Destroy the crate to release the contents.

- This guy has a lot of power.

- See how he stopped the box from turning around?

- Reset the box. - Destroyed.

Great job. Released the contents--moving on.

- Oh, this man is on a mission. - Fire Storm.

One final cut, then the clock stops.

Boom!

- Bill, that was impressive, man.

- It's going to come down to the wire.

Keith had...

12 penalties.

- He did rack up a lot of penalties,

but so did Dave.

These two competitors were pretty fierce.

They were evenly matched,

both "Forged in Fire" champions.

Both guys struggled with their targeting.

I have no idea whose time is going to hold up.

Dave, your time with penalties was...

Seven minutes and 47 seconds.

Keith, your time with penalties was...

Six minutes and 50 seconds.

Congratulations, my friend. You won $2,000.

- I came here as a "Forged in Fire" champion.

I came in second place, but I still leave as a winner.

- Congratulations, my friend.

You're moving on to the grand-champion showdown.

to vie for 20 grand.

You got to come back and kick some ass.

- Yes, sir.

And I can't wait just to do it again.

I am a winner!